Acute Pericarditis

As this inflammation is generally secondary to some other condition,
its treatment cannot be positively outlined. Furthermore, it is
often a terminal condition, and in such instances the results of
treatment are of necessity nil. The most frequent terminal cause is
nephritis; other terminal causes are pulmonary tuberculosis,
adjacent abscesses, cancer or other growth.

The most frequent infectious cause is rheumatism; other infectious
causes are cerebrospinal fever, typhoid fever, acute miliary
tuberculosis, pneumonia and Sepsis. Accidental causes are traumatism
and an adjacent inflammation of the pleura.

The result of an inflammation of the pericardium may be a fibrous
exudate, or an exudate which is both serous and fibrous, or one in
which pus is present in considerable amount.

The onset of pericarditis may be more or less acute, or it may
commence insidiously. For this reason, during severe illness, and
especially in those diseases which are known to have pericarditis
often as a sequence, frequent examination of the heart should be
made as a routine procedure.